The Fight for Chief

Chapter 13

The seasons are changing

A few weeks had now passed since the big surgery and both Derek and Meredith we're gearing up for their lawsuit trials this afternoon.

"Hey" she smiled as she walked into the conference room, sliding him a coffee. "What you doing?" she asked as she took a seat next to him. Just finishing up the last of the paperwork with this lawsuit" Derek said before leaning back in his chair, spinning to face her.

"What?" she asked. "Why are you smiling at me?" she blushed. "I'm just happy" he shrugged. "Oh. Why?" she asked curiously. He chuckled. "I have a surprise for you" he glanced at he watch. "That should be here any minute" he grinned smugly.

Almost as if timed perfectly, the door opened and Meredith's eyes went wide.

"LEXIE!"

She jumped out of her seat and threw herself at her sister, hugging her tight. "Wh-what? What are you doing here?" she asked. Lexie laughed and glanced to Derek. "Your best friend has been helping me transfer to Seattle Grace. I hate New York without you" Lexie explained before hugging her sister once more.

"You knew about this?!" Meredith exclaimed as she turned to Derek. "We discussed it when she was a here on vacation a few weeks ago. I've been helping her since" Derek smiled before he stood up. "Oh my gosh" she laughed in disbelief before hugging Derek tight. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she mumbled into his neck.

"So you're here for good?" Meredith asked as they all sat back down. "Yeah. I just need to find an apartment, so I hope it's alright that I stay with you and Izzie for a while" she smiled. Meredith nodded. "Absolutely!" she beamed.

"So what have we got on the agenda today? No exciting surgeries?" Lexie asked as she picked up one of Derek's many papers. He laughed. "No, just a lawsuit I've got this afternoon" he said. "Damn, what did you do?" Lexie asked. "Not me, Dr Koracik. Me and Meri have to fight the lawsuit on behalf of the hospital. It's part of the Chief race." Derek explained.

"My case is on behalf of Dr Nelson. The family claim that his wife was unplugged prematurely, even when Nelson declared them brain dead." Meredith said. "Oh wow" Lexie said. "What's yours, Derek?" she asked. "Koracik apparently performed a craniotomy on a patient that was in for carpal tunnel surgery. God knows how he messed that up but now i've got to save his ass from $170,000" Derek chuckled as he piled his papers up and folded his laptop.

"Do you guys find it hard, competing against one another, when you're such good friends?" Lexie asked curiously. Derek and Meredith looked at each other for a moment. "No" Derek smiled as he watched her. "We just keep it strictly professional. No backstabbing or anything" Derek said. "It's may the best person for the job win" Meredith shrugged, "It's nothing to do with out friendship"

Lexie looked to the two, subtly rolling her eyes. "Friends" she mumbled, "right." she said quiety. Meredith had heard what she said, and attempted to make a quick departure. "Derek" she said quickly as she stood up. "I'll meet you at your car, like we planned?" she asked. "2 o'clock" he smiled and nodded at her. "2 o'clock" she repeated before quickly leaving the room.

"So when are you going to make a move?" Lexie asked casually as she spun in her chair. "What do you mean?" Derek chuckled. "Well, when are you going to tell Meredith freaking Grey that you're irrevocably in love with her?" she asked as she inspected her nails. Derek let out a breath of both relief and of humour.

"You think I'm in love with Meredith?" he asked. Lexie laughed hard. "I don't need to think it, Derek. I know it" she said before silence fell on them. "D- do you think she's-" he paused. "What, in love with you too? Hell ye-" she started but he stopped her. "Do you think she'd be interested? In a date that is" he asked as he watched Lexie's face.

"Derek. She's so in love with you and you're both so God damn blind. Make a move, ask her out!" Lexie snapped at him. "Alright, alright!" he said defensively as he got up to leave.

With the fight for chief going on and them both being so busy, he didn't want to ask her right away, but he stored the thought in the back of his mind for when they're both a little less busy, and not in competition with each other. He smiled to himself as he left the room. Is she actually in love with me?

A few hours passed and both Derek and Meredith had made it to the courthouse, ready for their lawsuit trials. Derek was up first, which Meredith was grateful for because she wasn't feeling overly confident with this challenge. Debating and arguing wasn't her thing, she couldn't be firm or heartless.

"Thank you everybody. I'm Dr Derek Shepherd, shadow Chief of Surgery at Seattle Grace, standing in for Dr Webber today" Derek said to the court room.

Oh, he's so good at talking and being charismatic.

Derek went on to lead a perfect argument for his case.

This man in a suit. Breathe, Meredith, BREATHE.

"And whilst Dr Koracik did make a mistake with the surgeries, he also saved Mrs Plantain's life when he found a rare meningioma at the base of her skull, thus saving her life" Derek said before closing his folder and concluding his case.

"Alright, everybody, let's take 5 before the next case" someone called and people began filtering out the room. "Der!" she called as she caught up to him, "You did so good!" she beamed before hugging him. "Thanks" he smiled, taking in her strong lavender hair. He handed her a cup of water but frowned when he noticed she was shaking.

"You have nothing to worry about, okay? You're going to be great. You always are" Derek said as he gently grabbed her face. "You are Meredith freaking Grey, as Lexie likes to say" he chuckled. She smiled with him and nodded, nerves eating her up inside.

Their short break was over as Derek went and sat front row of the courtroom as Meredith faced him. He smiled, giving her a reassuring nod.

"Hello everybody, I'm Dr Meredith Grey, shadow Chief of Surgery at Seattle Grace, standing in for Dr Webber today" she swallowed the lump in her throat.

If only she knew. If only he knew.

"If we could all turn to article 1a," she paused as she let people turn to the page.

"Image 1 shows a photocopy scan of Dr Nelson's declaration of brain-death in Mr Clarke's wife"

...

Oooooooo what are your predictions going to happen?!